


Cast A Spell On You

by A_Death_and_A_Maiden



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Car Racing, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bullying, M/M, Mature rating just not to upset anyone, Romantic Angst, Strange fashion, Street Racing, Swearing, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:20:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29307156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Death_and_A_Maiden/pseuds/A_Death_and_A_Maiden
Summary: “I don’t know a shit about that. Just take my money and make me rich,”- said Yuri. Otabek chuckled.“I’ll accept your bet but you have to ask the driver to make you rich,”- said the bookie and nodded towards Otabek, - “that would be him.”A pair of big green eyes flashed at Otabek in surprise.“Are you gonna make me rich?”- asked Yuri and Otabek though he heard a purr. Maybe he shouldn’t drink anymore tonight.“Let me give you a ride home after I win?”- Otabek said before he could think. No, he definitely shouldn't drink anymore tonight.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Leo de la Iglesia/Lee Seung Gil, Otabek Altin & Yuri Plisetsky, Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone who reads, kudoses and comments. It means so much to me.

They hated the Russian Witch because _he_ brought out the worst in them. Right now, their eyes were following how Yuri’s delicate hand with long slender fingers of a piano player that could put Carnegie Hall stars to shame was hovering over their car keys lined up on the bar but all they could think was that Yuri was rubbing them up the wrong way and they totally hated Yuri for that. It was not helped that Yuri was wearing a pink transparent organza top over a black lace bralette, a pair of black skinny jeans with distressed holes on the knees and a pair of black strappy sandals on heels that showed his toe nails done in orange nail polish. Yuri’s skincare radiated a pleasant scent of rose and plum. Greed and lust in equal parts was tearing the cross-eyed men apart and they knew tonight they were gonna commit a sin. 

Why didn’t Yuri Plisetsky have common sense not to flash his queer personality so in-your-face in this small town with a neighbourhood watch, church Sunday picnics, teacher-parent conferences and a long seaside resort season that brought traditional families to rent holiday cottages? It was common knowledge Yuri had been banned from the local church for witchcraft though the priest refused to ever comment on the subject. 

“This one,”- said Yuri and he pushed a set of car keys slightly ahead of all other cars. There was a loud murmur in the bar and the bookies started taking bids for the upcoming race.  
“Leo, it looks like the Russian Witch foretells you another victory,”- said Seung-Gil Lee and patted his partner on the shoulder. Leo de la Iglesia just shrugged shoulders dismissively and smiled. He had a pleasant smile, a soft voice and a generally nice personality that went well with all sorts of people. That was part of the package because Leo was a professional street racer, a former F-1 racer who chose to quit the official sport because unexpectedly another stream of income opened. Not entirely legal but _pecunia non olet._

Yuri snatched another set of keys, walked to the trash bin and threw the keys into it. There was a loud thud when the key metal clashed against the trash inside. It was a late evening and the trash bin was nearly full of food leftovers, dirty paper napkins, plastic cans and other bar trash.  
“Hey!”- the owner of that particular key set, a Canadian holiday-maker, was outraged. -”What the fuck did you just do, you stupid bitch?!”

“I said put your car keys on the bar. These were your house keys,”- said the Russian Witch and disappeared in the crowd, leaving the Canadian man gaping with a mouth open, a cracking laugh of the crowd drowning him. Because that was hard facts. When he was invited to participate in the car race against the defending champion Leo de la Iglesia, he was proud to be cherry picked because of his reputation that preceded him across the Atlantic ocean. Jean Jacques Leroy was broadly known in narrow circles. But when the superstitious crowd of racers lined their car keys on the bar for the openly queer man to pick the winner, JJ was not gonna have any of that stupid shit. He was a good Catholic and such things were a great sin. So, he put his house keys instead. It was a bundle and it had a few car keys from the other cars in Canada but the key from his race car for tonight was in the back pocket of his jeans. There was no way anyone could know that! He was made a laughing stock. It was either pick up his keys from the trash or have all the locks changed. If he opted for the first option, he had to hurry before anyone threw any more trash on top. 

Leo won the race beating JJ by a good ten seconds. The bookies started paying the tickets and Leo ordered a round of drinks for everyone because he had defended his title for the consecutive ninth time. And what were the odds he would win his double-digit title? JJ tackled Yuri when the blonde man was leaving the bathroom and crammed him into the wall. JJ angrily hissed to Yuri’s face.

“I’m gonna win the next race. You stay away from this place. If I see your pretty face again, I’m gonna top you and I’m gonna make you scream my name so loud that they can hear you in Toronto, you stupid bitch.”  
“Everything OK?”- asked a pleasant voice. Leo was eyeing them suspiciously and Seung-Gil Lee was backing Leo.  
“Everything is just fantastic,”- said JJ and he let go of Yuri and patted him on the shoulder, - “we were just chatting. Congrats on your win again.”  
Leo nodded and watched JJ go away, then he turned to Yuri.

“Do you want a drink, Yuri? I’m buying.”  
“Thanks, I’m OK.”  
“You look strange. Did he scare you?”  
“Yes. No. I don’t know,”- Yuri fingered his forehead, - “he should stay away from the ice.”  
“He should what?”- Leo raised eyebrows.  
“Ice. He should stay away from the ice.”  
“Why?”  
Yuri just looked at Leo but he didn’t say anything. 

\---  
“Nice car, man.”  
Otabek stopped in his track. He was leaving a grocery shop with two full bags when a pleasant voice spoke to him. There was a man with brown eyes and brown hair, nicely parted in the middle, openly admiring Otabek’s car. It was a black Lamborghini Aventador and it was probably the time Otabek got used to his car being a pussy magnet, though he did prefer dicks. Otabek quickly scanned the man in front of him but immediately dismissed him as a holiday fling because the other man just wasn’t Otabek’s type. There was open admiration for the car, though. 

“Thanks,”- Otabek Altin was a man of few words.  
“That’s my girl,”- nodded the man and Otabek turned to look with a slight annoyance at the mentioning of the fairer sex. He knew he was expected to compliment a...wait, a car? There was a black Ferrari and a black-haired man with Asian features leaning against it, watching them. Somehow, the man matched the car perfectly.  
“Beautiful,”- said Otabek.  
“So is the car,”- smirked Leo. -“You new around here?”  
“Kinda,”- said Otabek. He wasn’t new here. He was born here for fuck’s sake but that was something for another conversation that was never gonna happen. Otabek had closed the door on that topic ages ago. 

“I know it’s totally random but do you fancy racing? Like, drag cars and such alike?”  
Otabek opened the trunk, dropped in the bags with groceries and closed the trunk. He rubbed his hands together, trying to erase the red marks from the heavy bag straps. It was his first day in the rental cottage and he had to shop for groceries to last him a week because he was gonna stay in, cook home-made meals, take long hot baths, read all the newest books and maybe drink some good wine. Just what the doctor recommended. 

Fuck, who was he kidding?  
“Racing?”- asked Otabek. Did he, The Hero of Kazakhstan, a pro, an ace, a god in racing and defending champion of Kazakhstan, fancy racing? Was the Pope Catholic?  
“Yeah. By the way, I’m Leo. Leo de la Iglesia.”  
“Otabek Altin.”  
They shook hands and then the realization dawned on both of them.  
“Whoa.”  
“Whoa.”  
“Sorry, Otabek. I know you by reputation only. Your injury is still probably bothering you. I’m sorry if my suggestion was out of place.”  
“No, that’s all right. How do you know about my injury?”  
“It’s on YouTube. Phichit Chulanont has a drag race channel and he’s a big fan of yours.”  
“And I’m wondering why the Interpol is banging on my door at three a.m.”  
“Kids these days. So, interested?”  
“I might be interested. Are you sure you want to break that streak of good luck?”  
“Luck has nothing to do with it. I just lifted racing into the state of art.”  
“You are so full of it.”  
“Then come and shake it out of me,”-smirked Leo. 

\---  
The bar was heaving with bodies of all walks of life. The security men were having a hard time keeping the gawkers and groupies from touching the cars. The bar staff was sweating oceans because the people were keeping the bar ambushed in three lines of thirsty bodies. The kitchen saw the number of order tickets, declared strike and closed, so the manager quickly ordered takeouts from all the local joints in the area. Otabek refused Leo’s offer to come up to the manager’s office where the racers had their private VIP zone set up. The manager, a resourceful Swiss man with a touch of hospitality industry, Christophe Giacometti knew that giving the racers special treatment would stroke their egos and eventually meant more referrals and that was good for business. Otabek took a sip of his beer and watched how bookies were taking bets. His name stirred a lot of interest and the odds seemed to have divided equally between Leo and him but quite a lot of people were betting on JJ Leroy. Otabek knew JJ by reputation only but everything good must come to an end.

“I thought I was clear last time, you stupid bitch.”  
Otabek turned his head to the side of the voice and he saw a tall gray-eyed man with black hair in an undercut and in a jacket with a Canadian maple leaf roughly grab a blonde woman by the arm. Otabek sighed and put down his drink. The woman was trying to break away but the people around her just stared, nobody interfered.  
“Rumour says you have a tight hole,”- said the man with Canadian attributes, -”just the way I like it.”  
People around them snickered evilly and Otabek felt his blood boil. He got up from his bar seat that was immediately taken by someone, approached the Canadian and patted him on the shoulder of the arm that the man was holding the woman with.  
“Stop it,”- said Otabek quietly. 

The atmosphere around the three of them seemed to chill quickly. The people around them were still watching them. The Canadian man stared at Otabek for a long moment and Otabek stared back. They were of similar height and built but the Canadian saw something in Otabek’s eyes that made him reconsider. He let go of the blonde. It was the only decision to be made in a situation like this because nobody had ever won a staring competition against Otabek Altin. He had a resident bitch face for occasions like this and it always worked.  
“Later, witch” -the Canadian blurted to the woman and disappeared into the crowd. The crowd around them dispersed when the people realized there was no fight in the promise.  
“Thank you,”- said the woman.

She was beautiful. The woman was wearing a pair of black leather leggings, a buttoned-up white broderie anglais shirt that was knotted at the waist, a pair of sparkly stiletto heels, her hair was arranged in a bun and she wore smokey eyes for her make-up.  
“Yuri, it’s time!”- shouted somebody from the crowd.  
“Coming!”- shouted the woman back and Otabek quirked an eyebrow. That was an unusual name for a woman.  
Unless…  
Yuri smiled at Otabek registering his confusion. The androgynous riddle on heels passed Otabek and walked away with a sway of hips that must be included on the criminal code as a weapon of mass sexual destruction. Otabek noticed how a crowd thickened around Yuri but then he felt an arm on his shoulder. It was Leo.  
“Let’s go,” - said Leo, -” I want to show you something. It’s best to watch from the balcony in the manager's office.”

They climbed upstairs where Christopher Giaccometti greeted them amicably and a group of racers aligned themselves on the balcony. They must look like gladiators on public display before the show, thought Otabek. They could clearly see their cars in the parking lot from here. Yuri was walking slowly and he paused in front of each car, scanned it with a look and continued onto the next one. There were eight cars racing that night. There were lewd catcalls and shouts of encouragement coming from the audience in equal numbers but Yuri didn’t seem to hear anything. He, now Otabek didn’t have any doubts that Yuri was a _he_ , started circling a second round and stopped when he came to Otabek’s car and slammed his palm on the hood. The crowd reacted loudly in a variety of emotions.

“It looks like the Russian Witch is forecasting your loss, Leo,”- said Seung-Gil Lee. Leo just shrugged shoulders.  
“I haven’t lost yet,”- he said.  
There was half an hour left until the race began and Otabek decided to step out for a smoke. He ran into Yuri at the bar area where bookies were taking their bids after the security men cleared the growling thirsty crowd away. Yuri handed one bookie a stash of banknotes.

“The black Lamborghini,”- said Yuri.  
“Good choice. Seven speed ISR automated manual...”  
“I don’t know a shit about that. Just take my money and make me rich,”- said Yuri. Otabek chuckled.  
“I’ll accept your bet but you have to ask the driver to make you rich,”- said the bookie and nodded towards Otabek, - “that would be him.”  
A pair of big green eyes flashed at Otabek in surprise.  
“Are you gonna make me rich?”- asked Yuri and Otabek though he heard a purr. Maybe he shouldn’t drink anymore tonight.  
“Let me give you a ride home after I win?”- Otabek said before he could think. No, he definitely shouldn't drink anymore tonight.  
“If you win, I’ll ride _you_ ,”- promised Yuri and Otabek smirked.  
“I hope you have a good stamina, kitten, because I intend to win. And after I win, I’m gonna have you ride me all night long.”  
Two or three people came over and asked to bet their money on what the Russian Witch had bid. 

\---  
Otabek won. He beat Leo by two seconds and broke Leo’s chain of victories. JJ finished in the third, just five seconds behind Otabek. Otabek and Leo exchanged a friendly hug in front of a cheering crowd. They were both professional street racers and losing to Otabek Altin is not a shame. The tonight’s racers took a challenge to race against Otabek and lost to him in a fair fight meanwhile many more just watched the action from a safe distance without picking a battle call, so who were they to judge? JJ slammed his car doors angrily and strode away without congratulating Otabek. Otabek and Leo just exchanged looks, shrugged and smiled. Then, they walked back to the bar to celebrate. Otabek didn’t drink anymore because he wanted to drive home himself but Leo and others doused in alcohol and soon a dancing pole was discovered. Otabek knew that the manager (“Please call me Chris”) had arranged some sleeping and showering options for the racers on the managerial floor, so the racers could unwind and not worry about getting home in one piece. Otabek thought he must be growing old because he slept best in his own bed but deep inside he knew what exactly it was. 

Growing dirt poor it was. Growing up in a large religious family on one income from their father because their mother had to look after the house and five children. Hand-me-downs they wore. Food leftovers reheated multiple times. Bed linen patched like quilt-work. Two or three of them sharing one room before scoring sports scholarships and leaving for colleges all across the country. Otabek wanted to shake these memories like raindrops. He was so done sharing accommodation. He said goodbye to Leo and Chris, made his way to his car through a small crowd of cheering fans and expectant potential bed partners, got inside his car and drove off.  
But he didn’t drive far. 

He saw a familiar figure being cornered by a group of men lead by that same man in a Canada-themed jacket. Otabek knew that starting a fight now would be stupid on his part, he wasn’t exactly sober and there were five or six of them against Yuri and Yuri didn’t look much of a fighter. Otabek stopped his car with a screech and everybody turned to look at him. Otabek got out of the car and looked at Yuri over the top of the car.

“Get in quick!”- shouted Otabek to Yuri. Otabek got back to his driver’s seat the moment Yuri slammed the passenger doors shut and Otabek hit the speed pedal. Yuri whirled in his seat trying to fasten a safety belt. When he finally succeeded, he looked very small against the car seat and he was white like a porcelain doll. Otabek sped as if the winds of all the world were carrying him and remembered himself only when he stopped the car by a panorama vantage point he used to come as a child. It was his safe spot when he was a child, Otabek remembered, and now, in the heat of the stress, his muscle memory made the hands on the wheel take them here. It was a hill-point that gave a nice view of the valley and the small resort town situated in it and the sea met the horizon. They didn’t get out of the car, though. Yuri was loudly panting from, probably, fear. They spent some time in silence watching the panorama of the illuminated town. 

“Shall I give you a ride home?”- finally asked Otabek. He turned to look at Yuri. The car lights in the salon made Yuri look ethereal.  
“Fuck, no!”- spat Yuri, -”I saw how you drive. Only immortals can ride with you.”  
Otabek grunted.  
“Where are we?”- asked Yuri.  
“It’s a panorama spot twenty kilometers away from the town. Quite a popular location or so I heard.”  
“If I suck you off, will you bring me home?”  
Otabek turned to look at Yuri again in surprise and he was met with big questioning eyes in return. Otabek didn’t need to say anything further. Yuri thought Otabek saved him from the aggressive group so that he could do the same thing as they but in private.  
“You promised to ride my dick,”- slowly said Otabek and saw how panic twisted Yuri’s face. Otabek grunted and started the car. He turned around and slowly drove back to the town. If driving slow was an Olympic event, Otabek would be bringing his country a gold medal. He tossed a GPS to Yuri.  
“Put in your address.”

Otabek pulled over by a small cottage near the town line. It was an old romantic house with timber-work and a thatched-roof with a long chimney. There was a small perch in front of the front door. A big round moon was hanging directly above the house and somehow Otabek thought this house was perfect for Yuri. It had something magic about it but it maybe be just alcohol in his blood talking. Maybe alcohol or maybe Maybelline, chuckled to himself Otabek. The Russian Witch or _vixen kitten_ as Otabek thought now of Yuri slowly unfastened his seat belt but he couldn’t open the door. Otabek knew why, there was a trick on the lock. He leaned over Yuri to open the door and noticed how Yuri winced at his move. The door slowly cracked ajar and a gust of night air swept inside the car. Yuri quickly jumped out of his seat, slammed the door shut behind him and disappeared into the night.

End Part One


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri made them pancakes and they used Yuri’s black currant jam with them. Otabek wolfed his plate because he had worked up appetite but Yuri just nibbled at his. Otabek picked up his cup of tea and got up to explore the room while sipping the hot drink that mixed with the pancakes in his stomach. The bookshelves were crammed with books on a variety of subjects from gardening and yoga to European history and Japanese art. Otabek noticed that very few books came from a regular bookshop, the main load looked like a charity shop find.  
> “Where’s your cat?”- asked Otabek, finally breaking the silence.  
> “How do you know about my cat?”- Yuri asked in return. He seemed to be surprised.  
> “Victor told me,”- lied Otabek.

JJ tackled Leo and Chris.  
“Who is this Altin man and why does he behave as if he owns this building?”- JJ demanded an explanation from them, standing there firmly planting the feet on the floor, hands crossed on his chest. His European holiday wasn’t fun anymore and he wanted to know why. The two men were looking at him in the mixture of polite cold because they preferred to keep their cool. After all, JJ came in third in their race but European Grand Prix was only a month away and some very serious money could be made. 

“That’s Otabek Altin and, actually, he does own the building,”- said Chris. 

\---  
Otabek woke up with a small hangover and a lot of unread messages from different people he didn’t wanted to know in the first place. He was not a people person but was it his fault that he had a brilliant idea that made him stinking rich? Otabek could literally burn money for entertainment. He saw texts from Leo, Chris, a couple of unknown numbers, also from his work contacts. Otabek took a quick shower and prepared himself a light breakfast. He raised a cup of coffee to his lips and froze, then slowly put the cup down. The events of the last nigh flashed in his memory and Otabek felt a knot in his stomach. He treated Yuri really badly for no reason whatsoever and what was worse, he left Yuri alone in what may be danger because, Otabek knew from experience, such people as Leroy didn’t stop in the middle of the road. 

Otabek rode his motorbike to Yuri’s cottage. He had the address saved in the GPS of the car but it was a portable device and could be plugged into his motorbike’s system. Vaguely Otabek remembered that there was no parking before Yuri’s cottage and his suspicions were confirmed in the broad daylight. He could park his motorbike but not his car, he must have let Yuri go while still parked on the road. Otabek knocked loudly on the cottage door, took five steps back to give Yuri some space for maneuvering and waited. Nothing. Otabek walked around the house to the back door and knocked on them to the same result. Yuri wasn’t home. Otabek looked around and saw a neatly organized herbal garden with some beds of vegetables. There were some flowers too. A big black currant bush was growing heavy with berries right by the back door. Otabek plucked a bunch and popped in his mouth. Yummy. 

When Otabek returned to his bike, he felt he was being watched. He looked around and he saw a silver-haired man watching him carefully from a threshold of a bookshop across the road. The man raised his hand and waved to Otabek. The hand movement was dubious, it could mean that Otabek should go away or that Otabek should come over. He thought for a moment and decided that the silver-haired man could know if Yuri was home. Neighbours, they smelled such things. Neighborhood hound was always watching. 

The bookshop was really cozy. It was a modern place after a recent renovation and Otabek could smell fresh paint in the air. There was a small cafe section next to the book area and a man with Asian features (Otabek guessed Japanese) greeted him kindly.  
“I hope you don’t mind,”- said the silver-haired man, -”but I haven’t seen you before and Yuri is our friend, so…”  
“That’s all right,”- said Otabek. -”I actually am looking for him. I gave him a ride home late last night but I wanted to check if he was all right.”  
No, thought Otabek, that doesn’t sound like a stalker. The silver-haired man probably thought the same because he didn’t say anything, just silently hummed. Then, an idea crossed Otabek’s mind.  
“It looks like Yuri’s out but I want to leave him a small gift to apologize for the last night. I might have said something wrong,”- said Otabek. The silver-haired man nodded in a way that was very much ‘oh, surely, you were a total moron last night’.  
“Here,”- said the barista (his tag said “Katsuki”) and he passed Otabek a cup of black coffee. -”You look like you need it. It’s on the house.” If the other man didn’t approve of it, he didn’t show it.  
“Yuri is at work,”- said the silver-haired man. -”He has some shifts at a local grocery store.” He didn’t say which store, though.  
“Yuri does some gardening,”- said Katsuki, - “a book about gardening would be a good idea.” Otabek nodded, took his coffee to a small table, removed his leather jacket and put it on the chair, then he started checking the bookshelves. The gardening section was abundant but Otabek was as close to gardening as a mermaid to ballet dancing, so he dismissed the idea completely. Besides, from what he saw at Yuri’s back yard it looked like Yuri could author a book about gardening himself. He caught himself pausing in front of a specific section for too long because the silver-haired approached him. The man’s eyes lit up.  
“Ah, wicca!”  
“Wicca?”  
“Yes! White magic and pagan belief. It can be very...interesting.”  
The Russian _Witch._  
Vixen.  
The herbal garden.  
Foretelling his victory.  
Otabek took in a deep breath. 

Otabek picked up a book from the ‘Just in’ section about crystal magic and a notebook with a cover in  
green sequins that seemed to match Yuri’s eyes. Otabek could swear Katsuki suppressed a smile when he was putting his purchases in a gift bag. Otabek paid with his card and asked if he could borrow a pen because he wanted to leave a note. He took one of his business cards but then decided against it because there was his company title on it. Instead, he used the first page of the notebook. He left the bag with the book and the notebook by the front door of Yuri’s cottage and rode away. No, thought Otabek, that doesn’t look like a stalker at all. 

He received a text later that night. It was from a number he didn’t know.  
“Thanks for the book. Strange choice, but you are kinda strange too. I like the notebook, though.”  
Otabek grinned from ear to ear.  
“I’m not strange. I’m eccentric,”- he texted back. And you are beautiful, he wrote but then deleted. No, definitely not a stalker.  
\---

Yuri had quite a reputation if local community forums could be a source of trusted information and Otabek, because he was not a stalker, was googling Yuri up. Yuri grew herbs and made organic medicine, cosmetic products and mixed spices. He wasn’t a certified doctor but he apparently was in possession of old folk recipes for ointments that helped with different bruises and small wounds. Yuri kept a cat, Potya. Otabek thought that he should buy some cat treats when he would visit Yuri next time because he wasn’t a stalker. 

What the silver-haired man didn’t tell Otabek was that Yuri also worked some shifts at the bookshop. The silver-haired man’s name was Victor, he was the moderator of the reader’s club on the community forum. There was a small reading club in the town and at weekends they gathered in the bookshop cafe for some pastries and literature talks. Victor was a famous retired figure skater and a decorated medalist, settling in a peaceful location away from the media spotlight with his boyfriend Yuuri Katsuki and the cafe with a bookshop was Victor’s way of investing his savings. Otabek also noticed a couple of unpleasant comments bordering on the homophobia but never outright enough to be reported to the admins. Hurting people was a skill that took years to polish. 

Two part-time jobs with hourly wages, that’s just enough to put some food on the table. Otabek understood why Yuri gambled in the races. Last night Yuri took home about three thousand dollars. Some people believed in Yuri’s magic skills, some called him a con-artist and blamed the organizers for dirty games. Otabek furrowed his brows. These people! Otabek’s nostrils flared at the mere thought of an arranged race. 

The incident when Yuri winced in his seat at Otabek kept playing itself on repeat in Otabek’s mind. He had apologized and, based on the text, his apology was accepted but there was this bad taste in Otabek’s mouth. Maybe he should pay Yuri another visit, hopefully Yuri would be home this time, and he could apologize personally, and maybe Yuri would agree to have a coffee with him in Victor’s bookshop, no, definitely not a date, and Otabek was on a holiday anyway, he needed to take sea air as his doctor had recommended. Maybe he could invite Yuri to a beach some time? 

Otabek landed his head on his laptop keyboard with a loud thud.  
Take a break, he was told, the break will do you good.

\----  
The doctor held Otabek’s knee X-rays against the light and hummed.  
“I can see your injury is heeling well, Mr. Altin. A bad fall off a motorbike, right?”  
Otabek nodded.  
It was a bad another racer’s car driving into his, sending both cars into rotation and overturning but what his doctor didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.  
“I suggest you relax your leg more and start slowly with a series of exercises. I suggest you look into a seaside resort. Water and sun are very beneficial for your type of injury. Can you take a break from work?”  
Otabek was so rich he didn’t need to work a day in his life now.  
In short, yes, he could take a break from work.  
But after the doctor’s appointment he went and got himself a revolver.  
_Altin, you are fucked up._  
\---

Otabek parked his bike by Yuri’s cottage. He saw Victor step out from the bookshop and wave at him. Otabek waved back and wondered if Victor was gonna play a gooseberry all the time. There was no answer when Otabek knocked on the front door but when he turned around he saw Victor still in front of his bookshop gesticulating something at him. It took Otabek a moment to understand that Victor was showing him ‘go around the cottage’. Otabek gave Victor a thumbs-up and trotted around the cottage. He found Yuri on his knees in the garden.

The garden looked like a train wreck. The plants were trampled. The flowers were reaped with their roots. The black currant bush was broken into pieces, sharp branches sticking out. Otabek noticed how Yuri’s small shoulders shook, Yuri was silently crying. Otabek clenched his fists. He didn’t need to look into a crystal ball or coffee grounds to know whose idea was this. It was a very small town where people knew each other and Yuri was such a bright personality that he stuck out like a sore thumb. Otabek suppressed a hiss when he noticed a slur against the back door. Those cowards didn’t even have enough courage to vandalize the front door. 

Then, Otabek realized that Yuri was looking at him. Yuri was kneeling on the ground and looking at Otabek over his shoulder. Yuri’s eyes were red from tears but still of beautiful green. Yuri was wearing gardening gloves and was, by the look of it, trying to salvage what was left from a bed of strawberries. Otabek removed his black leather jacket, dropped it by the back door and knelt beside Yuri. Neither of them said anything. Otabek was wearing his riding gloves but they were open at the fingers, so soon his undernails were full of soil. His injured knee started twitching at the uncomfortable angle but Otabek could have a gun to his head but he wouldn’t stand up. 

They worked for hours and hours on end but eventually their limbs were sore and their stomachs gurgled from hunger. Yuri was the first to throw in the towel. Otabek looked around and was pleased with the result. The vandalized greenery had been removed to the compost heap at the far end of the garden. It was kept under a lock, that probably helped it to avoid being messed up. The beds were newly made, some herbs and vegetables that had roots could sprout again. The flowers and the black currant bush were the worst victims of this assault. Otabek, armed with community forum knowledge, knew that Yuri made delicious jams and Otabek felt really bad when he saw the jam jars lined in the muddy-room of the cottage. Yuri was making preserves for winter himself because every cent counted and those assholes were threatening his livelihood. 

Yuri said he would cook up something quickly and Otabek asked where he could wash his hands. Yuri directed Otabek to the small bathroom, gave him a fresh towel and apologized that due to maintenance hot water supply had been cut in the area. Otabek scrubbed his hands red trying to get the dirt out of the pores of his skin and undernails and wondered if Yuri took cold showers or heated some water on the stove and scrubbed himself clean. The bathroom had a pleasant smell of rose and plum. Then, when he came back to the living room, an array of candles illuminated the space. Electricity was cut too due to maintenance, explained Yuri, but he also said he liked it this way as it was more atmospheric. Otabek sat down on the couch and wrapped his hands around a cup of hot tea. It was tea with Yuri’s selection of herbs but Otabek would drink liquid quicksilver if it was served by Yuri. Overdue bills, thought Otabek. When he was a child and his father checks bounced, their family was on the same ‘maintenance’ like Yuri. Otabek made it, though. 

Yuri made them pancakes and they used Yuri’s black currant jam with them. Otabek wolfed his plate because he had worked up appetite but Yuri just nibbled at his. Otabek picked up his cup of tea and got up to explore the room while sipping the hot drink that mixed with the pancakes in his stomach. The bookshelves were crammed with books on a variety of subjects from gardening and yoga to European history and Japanese art. Otabek noticed that very few books came from a regular bookshop, the main load looked like a charity shop find.  
“Where’s your cat?”- asked Otabek, finally breaking the silence.  
“How do you know about my cat?”- Yuri asked in return. He seemed to be surprised.  
“Victor told me,”- lied Otabek.  
“She’s at the vet’s. She needs her annual vaccination but they wanted to keep her for a few days to check-up on some health issues. They said they would call me when I can take her back.”  
Veterinary fraud, thought Otabek but he didn’t say that to Yuri. Vets often did that to boost the bill because pet owners would sell their body parts to keep their pets fit and healthy. A nail trimming, an extra tick or two on the blood test order, new daily bedding, a shot of vitamins...and the bill went to three digits. Yuri had won the racing bet but Otabek didn’t know how many debts Yuri had. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay alone tonight,”- said Otabek. They didn’t manage to clean the slur on the door, so Otabek promised to get some paint that matched the colour of the door and work on it. -”Those who did it may come back.” He cast a quick look at Yuri and Yuri’s face was exactly like that in his car the first night. Sheer morbid panic. - “Do you have anywhere to go? Friends?”  
Yuri shook his heads.  
“No. My only living relative is my grandfather but he lives in another part of the country.”  
“What about Victor?”  
Yuri hesitated to answer but Otabek didn’t make his fortune because he was an idiot. This wouldn’t be the first time Yuri asked Victor for help. The situation was extraordinary but Yuri obviously didn’t want to make it into a habit.  
“I’ll stay overnight if you want,”- said Otabek, finishing his tea. The herbs got between his teeth and he swallowed some of them.  
“I can’t ask you for that. I don’t even know you. Why should you get into trouble because of me?”  
“You live alone and it’s not safe,”- said Otabek. It was not a lie but it was not what he wanted to say either. He sensed Yuri’s hesitation and turned to face him. The green eyes flickered in the candlelight. - “I know what you are thinking but I assure you I have nothing of the sort on my mind. I’m not gonna force myself onto you. You can tie my hands and legs but I’m not letting you stay alone tonight.”  
Somehow, Yuri looked relieved that he wouldn’t be alone that night.  
“I’ll make you a bed on the couch,”- said Yuri and Otabek nodded.  
“Friends?”- he asked.  
“Friends,”- said Yuri and gave the sweetest smile in the world. 

They pulled Otabek’s bike into a small garden shed. 

End Part Two


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otabek would take Yuri home and sometimes he would stay overnight on the couch. Otabek kept a change of clothes and a set of personal hygiene items at Yuri’s place. Otabek knew it was sometime between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. because that’s when Potya would come from Yuri’s bedroom and sleep at Otabek’s feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading me.  
> Just...Thank you.  
> Thank you.

True to his word, two days later Otabek stopped by Yuri’s cottage with a can of paint and soon the slur was done over. Yuri wasn’t there when Otabek came because Otabek knew Yuri would be picking up Potya from the vet. Otabek wanted to take care of the painting job while Yuri was out to keep the bad memories away. Yesterday Otabek was busy with making calls and he succeeded in covering Potya’s outstanding bill that went by a couple of visits and Yuri had been working to pay with small installments, he also got in touch with electricity and water companies to sort out Yuri’s bills but he didn’t get far ahead because he wasn’t the owner of the cottage and some information was restricted. But he wouldn’t be where he was if restricted information was a problem, so he made a couple of other calls and eventually managed to put those bills through his company account because he didn’t want his name flash up first thing when Yuri would start wondering why he suddenly has electricity and hot water. Otabek was paying very good money to his accounting team so it was about time they showed some creativity. Yuri would surely need the three thousand dollars he made during the race if the things were going like that.

Otabek didn’t race again. He made himself a reputation of a racer hard to get. Any race with his name was guaranteed success in one way or another. He showed up at a few other races as Leo’s friend and Chris’s guest of honour. JJ wasn’t there but he was somewhere in the area. Otabek’s gut said JJ wasn’t done with Yuri yet and it was even clearer after he got the exact details of the situation of Leroy’s keys. Yuri had humiliated Leroy in public and Leroy was going to pay Yuri with the same coin. But there was a difference between an insult and a threat. So, when he took Yuri out for a night, Otabek carried his gun. Leo and Chris knew. Chris was not happy to let Otabek wander in the bar full of drunks with a loaded gun but Leo vouched for Otabek and when Chris heard the story about Yuri’s garden he relented. But there was a drawback- Otabek wasn’t allowed to drink in the bar if he was carrying he gun. It was then Otabek discovered the existence of cherry coke.

Chris’s bar was only hosting car races irregularly, when there was a good mix-up of racers or somebody was looking for a venue for their event. Other nights it was disco nights, sport on TV nights, trivia nights, pole dancing nights...Otabek took Yuri out and paid from his own pocket. At first, Yuri was very unsure of this and wanted to go fifty-fifty but Otabek just shook his head and told Yuri to never bring it up again. Yuri wanted to say something but held his tongue. Soon the regular crowd knew that the Russian Witch had enchanted Otabek Altin. They were a sight to behold. Otabek rode his bike wearing his uniform of a black leather jacket over a white or black T-shirt and a pair of black leather pants of faded blue jeans, his outfit was completed with a gray scarf and a pair of combat boots. Yuri, on the other hand, let his hair lose on the craziest wardrobe styles ranging from a punk in tight black jeans and a choker to a fairy in a ballerina skirt topped with some bright make-up. Sure, Yuri received cat calls from the bar patrons who didn’t know better but who were fast learners after Otabek took them aside for a private chat. 

Otabek had once suggested that Yuri toned down his outfits to avoid cat calls, Yuri looked at him sadly but he didn’t say anything. Then, Yuri didn’t say anything for a day and he didn’t reply to Otabek’s texts or calls. Otabek felt really bad at what he realized was victim shaming and came to Yuri immediately. Yuri was doing a shift at the bookshop that day and both Victor and Katsuki gave Otabek a look ‘don’t you dare to hurt him again’ and Otabek was reconfirmed that he had indeed overstepped the line. He apologized to Yuri and a shattered truce was established. After that, Otabek would rather split someone a lip that suggest Yuri to tone down his outfits. Chris scolded Otabek and the bouncers restored order but Otabek knew Chris was just playing a strict manager. After all, Otabek was _the boss_ , even if JJ didn't take Chris’s words seriously last time. 

Otabek would take Yuri home and sometimes he would stay overnight on the couch. Otabek kept a change of clothes and a set of personal hygiene items at Yuri’s place. Otabek knew it was sometime between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. because that’s when Potya would come from Yuri’s bedroom and sleep at Otabek’s feet. 

Otabek also took Yuri on shopping trips. They went to nice designer boutiques that didn’t store Yuri’s favourite flashy fashions that came from local thrift shops or weird online stores that catered for fetishes. Otabek wanted to get Yuri a basic wardrobe of quality pieces that would stand the test of time because he felt his time in the resort town was running out and soon he won’t be able to take care of Yuri anymore. They settled on a range of cashmere turtlenecks, a brown camel wool coat and, because Otabek saw Yuri’s eyes light up, a few unisex sweatshirt dresses. Lingerie was another item on Otabek’s list but he didn’t know how to bring this topic to Yuri, so he was massively relieved when he saw Yuri grab a few sets of sexy laced full slips and take them to the changing room. 

There was this awkward moment at the till when Otabek gave the shop assistant his credit card. There were no price tags on the clothes but Yuri was there when the shop assistant called the total. Yuri’s eyes slightly rounded up and he wanted to say something but Otabek just placed his index finger against Yuri’s lips.  
“It’s just money, Yuri, it was invented for spending.”

–  
Otabek took Yuri to the beach on his last night in the town. Otabek’s holiday was over and his presence was required at work. He had several very important business meetings to attend and there were a few contracts to look through. A social menace in the form of a pile of event invitations was growing daily and there were some events, like charity, that he had to make an appearance. He would be leaving the rented cottage tomorrow but he couldn’t bring to tell Yuri of his departure date anyhow before the very moment he was forced to do so. He just couldn’t disappear without an explanation to his friend. 

“Victor told me this might be a holiday fling.”  
Fuck Victor, thought Otabek. He and Yuri were sitting on a sand dune and the sea was silently humming ahead of them. The only source of light were the moon and the lights of the nearby lifeguard station.  
“Yuri, maybe you should move to a bigger city. The people are more mixed, more tolerant for your way of life. It will be safer.”  
“I’m not a coward. I’m not gonna run. It’s my home.”  
“Then stop betting. It’s dangerous. I’ll give you money.”  
“I don’t need your money.”  
“I want to put you on arrangement.”  
“Arrangement?”  
“A monthly amount of money to cover your needs.”  
“I am not a pet.”  
“No, you are my friend.”  
“I cannot be your friend.”  
“Why not?”  
“You save me from that horrible man. You help me restore my garden. You sleep on my couch to keep me safe. I must give something back."  
“I am not expecting anything, Yuri.”  
“But you must. This is what friends do. You should expect something back from me as your friend.”  
“You already gave it, Yuri. You gave me something very special.”  
“What?”  
“Purpose.”  
“I don’t need your fucking money,”- said Yuri and walked away barefoot.

\----  
“Leo? I need a favour. Can you come round my cottage tomorrow morning? I need to talk to you before I leave,”- said Otabek to his phone later that night. Yuri went on a complete ignore of Otabek again, so Otabek’s texts weren’t answered and his calls rolled to Yuri’s voicemail. 

Leo didn’t disappoint. He and Seung-Gil Lee were sitting in Otabek’s cottage living room on a couch opposite Otabek and listening attentively. There was a pack of bills on the small table in between.  
“Leo, I want to ask you for something but I understand it’s a huge imposition and you can totally say no. I’ll understand.”  
“Can I hear the proposition first?”  
“You know Yuri, right?”  
“Unless you mean someone else than the Russian Witch who has been your arm candy for the entire month, I know. The whole town does.”  
“I am leaving for the city but he prefers to stay here. I offered him money to keep from betting but he refused. So I’m asking you to take the money and keep an eye on Yuri, help with an unexpected bill or something. You are on friendly terms with him and as long as he doesn’t know it’s my money…”  
Leo nodded, Seung-Gil Lee didn’t look convinced it was a good idea but nobody asked for his opinion. Sometimes you just have to sit there and watch your boyfriend get involved into something that isn’t gonna work and then just be there for him when it hasn’t worked. There was no need to make a fuss.

Seung-Gil Lee’s silent wisdom was proved a week later.  
“Stop paying my bills.”  
A text from Yuri. Otabek started typing a message back but deleted, then tried again and deleted again. Finally, he came up with something that was just a little better than nothing.  
“?”- texted Otabek back to Yuri.  
“Leo.”  
Otabek grunted. OK, so maybe Leo and he weren’t the world’s greatest conspirators.  
“I just want to make sure you are OK,”- texted Otabek, -”are you OK?”  
“No.”  
“What happened?”  
No answer. Yuri didn’t text back and all seventeen Otabek’s call rolled to voicemail. Thank fuck Otabek didn’t have to make any major decisions that day because his mind was separated from his body. 

The drive to Yuri’s cottage took just over two hours. Otabek parked his car in the parking plot of the nearest grocery store and walked the rest of the way. Yuri was home because there was a small smoke coming from the chimney. Otabek stood there for a few minutes, head tilted upwards, watching the thing white smoke wriggle its way and disappear. Then, he raised his fist and knocked on the front door. He heard steps outside the door and stop on the other side, obviously listening.  
“Yuri, it’s me. Open up,”- said Otabek.  
The doors cracked open a bit. Yuri was looking at him, the door hiding half of his face.  
“Otabek?”  
“You didn’t pick up your phone.”  
“I lost my phone.”  
“Where? How?”  
“Otabek, this isn’t the time…”  
“Yuri,”- said Otabek putting his foot in the doorway and leaning against the door frame, -”open the fucking door.”  
There was a blue yellowish bruise under Yuri’s eye. Otabek raised his fist and slammed the door frame.  
“JJ?”- asked Otabek. 

Yuri’s phone screen was one big spiderweb as if someone’s big foot had stepped over it but it was under guarantee for repairs, said Yuri. Otabek said he would buy Yuri a new phone as soon as they got to the city. Yuri slanted his eyes.  
“Stop spending money on me,”- hissed Yuri. -”I am not a fucking charity case.”  
“You are my friend. And I have money. It’s not that you are taking my last cent.”  
I would give my last cent for you, thought Otabek, and my last drop of blood.  
“That’s not the point!”  
Otabek growled. How could he make Yuri understand? Otabek cupped Yuri’s face and kissed him gently. First, he took Yuri’s top lip between his own, then the bottom one. Yuri looked at Otabek with a growing realization.  
“How do you want to do it?”- asked Yuri. -”Top? Bottom? You want me to put on that lingerie you had bought me?”  
“I’m sorry,”- said Otabek. -”I shouldn’t have kissed you.”  
“Damn right! You were my best friend! You were my _only_ friend! Now I don’t have anything!”

Yuri fled and shut himself in the bathroom. Otabek kept knocking on the door and begging Yuri to come for over half an hour and then threw the towel in. He quickly crossed the street and walked into the bookshop. Victor and Katsuki were his last hope for backup.  
\---

His last hope proved to be his best hope. Victor and Katsuki lent them a hand packing Yuri’s things. Suddenly, Yuri wanted to take everything. Like, he wasn’t planning to come back. The bags and boxes filled the trunk of Otabek’s car and spilled on the back seat of his Lamborghini. Victor chimed happily when Yuri asked him to take some jars with black currant jam. 

Somehow, Otabek managed to convince Yuri that if Yuri wasn’t ready to return the feeling, Otabek was not gonna leave him. Otabek was still gonna be Yuri’s best friend. And friends took care of each other even if they didn’t kiss. 

The drive to the city was uneventful and quiet. Otabek glanced at Yuri in the passenger seat and understood the source of peace and quiet was the fact that Yuri had fallen asleep. He still looked very small against the passenger seat, pressed with a seat-belt. The cat carrier with Potya was secured with a seat-belt on the passenger car and the cat was behaving as if it knew that this trip was in the best of Yuri’s interests. 

Yuri looked around Otabek’s apartment and Otabek felt the uneasiness rising. Otabek did tell Yuri he had money but now Yuri could see for a fact and this intimidated him. Otabek was a bit annoyed. Why couldn’t Yuri see through the money that Otabek was the same good hard-working kid from a small town but with better clothes? Potya scratched the carrier and Yuri looked at it. His finger was on the lock but Yuri hesitated to open it.  
“Potya will ruin your furniture,”- said Yuri.  
“I’ve been meaning to change it anyway,”- said Otabek. He picked Potya’s litter box and carried to the bathroom. - “Anything for a friend.”  
“Anything?”  
“People want to be my friends because I’m rich. You don’t want to be my friend because I’m rich. And I appreciate that. But at the same time, if money can make your life easier, I will spend it on you. You have two choices tonight. I’m going to bed now. You can join me in it as a boyfriend or as a best friend. Either way, the decision is yours.”

Yuri could earn money by showing how he sleeps. 

“The door. It doesn’t open.”  
Otabek hummed and raised his morning coffee cup to his lips. Then, he understood. He looked at Yuri who kept himself purposefully separated by the kitchen table. Yuri must have tried to open the doors (when? Why?) and he couldn’t and now he must be thinking that Otabek was keeping him hostage.  
“There’s a safety switch,”- said Otabek and he put down his cup. -”Come, I’ll show you.”

Otabek was standing behind Yuri in front of the entrance door.  
“Unlock it,”- said Otabek.  
Yuri opened the lock and pulled the door but it didn’t budge.  
“There’s a switch,”- said Otabek as he took Yuri’s hand and guided it to a small switch under the handle,- “pull it and open the door.”  
Yuri did it and the door opened. Otabek wrapped his hands around Yuri to prevent him from possible bolting.  
“Please don’t leave now. I’m gonna give you a key so you can come back anytime you want. But I need some time to have it made.”  
“Aren’t you afraid I will rob you?”  
“Good riddance of bad rubbish,”- Otabek shrugged shoulders.  
“That’s some very expensive rubbish.”  
Otabek shrugged shoulders again.

\---  
Potya ruined a leather couch and, true to his word, Otabek had it replaced. He had a group of removers come in under the supervision of one of his assistants while he was at the office, remove the ruined couch and replace it with a new one in the matter of a couple hours. This was what the money was for. 

Otabek signed up for Grand Prix together with Leo and JJ but JJ had to withdraw. His car hit a patch of ice during a drag street race and crashed badly. JJ sustained serious injuries but, from what Otabek heard, the Canadian got bruised but not wiser. 

Then he noticed Yuri’s home-made skincare next to his in the bathroom and Yuri’s thrifted clothes in his designer closet. The right side of his bed was Yuri’s. The guest bedroom was turned into Yuri’s private space because Otabek asked Yuri not to leave his stuff around the apartment. Stuff like toad skins and black candles was quite harmless but belladonna and opium poppy was better kept under a lock. Otabek drank Yuri’s herbal tea in the evenings and applied Yuri’s home-made body lotion in the mornings. Yuri also made an ointment for Otabek’s bad knee which had a strange but pleasant cooling sensation.

Otabek picked up a plastic bag from the fridge, inspected a label on it and made a note on his mobile to get Yuri a small fridge in the guest bedroom. Otabek put the blood pack back to took out a carton of milk, he was gonna make some scrambled eggs with fresh vegetables. He accepted what Yuri was doing without a question. When you love, you don’t ask, you just trust. 

The End


End file.
